Thursday, 27 June 2013

I've just got back from another four days of work for Skye guides. Day 1 saw us fighting on through the wind and rain and grabbing Sgurr a'Mheadaidh, day two and we headed for the Southern Munros to get Sgurr nan Eag and Sgurr Dubh Mor which Alex still had to 'tick off'.

After a big day and with the weather set to come in, in the afternoon we had a short day three and grabbed the In Pinn and were back at the car before the rain started. With Yesterdays forecast being the best we headed for Pinnacle ridge on Sgurr nan Gillian, after topping out we descended the west ridge and headed over Am Bastier, abbing Naismith's and King's cave chimney and on to Bruache na Frithe. A great day out with lots of interest the whole way. That's my work on Skye finished for the moment but hopefully I'll be back soon.

The view on the approach to Pinnacle ridge.

Umm, where should I thread my ab rope. At the top of Kings cave chimney.

Saturday, 8 June 2013

Back from another short stint of work on Skye for Skye Guides and there's not a lot to say really other than the sun is shining, the ground is dry and so are the crags. So get out and enjoy the Highlands at their best!

Monday, 3 June 2013

Saturday morning started wet but was due to dry up as the day went on so Stuart, Vincent and I had a plan for a late start on the first day to give the ridge a chance to dry. We start the walk in at about 11am and thankfully only had one shower on the way round to Gars Bheinn. By the time we hit the ridge the cloud was lifting and the crest was dry. We made very quick progress to coir' a Ghrunnda and made the detour out to Sgurr Dubh Mor and back to our bivvy below Sgurr Sgmain for an early night ready for our big second day.

A 4am alarm saw us fed and ready for a 5am start, we headed up onto Sgurr Alasdair to be greeted with a view of the cloud clearing from the ridge and it all looked good for a quick day. Unfortunately it was at this point that Stuart started to feel unwell and it was long before he was bent over throwing up. He decided to continue and did very well to keep going considering but he was struggling to eat anything so was going to run out of energy at some point. We made steady progress North over the In Pinn at about 9am and enjoyed the great section of scrambling over Sgurr a Ghreadaidh but it was decided at this point that we should leave the ridge at An Dorus. A good effort by Stuart who really was battling on and well done to Vincent who was very understanding. I was working this traverse for Skye Guides.

On Friday afternoon I was joined by Tom and Fiona for an introduction to rock climbing. We headed up into Glen Nevis and climbed the Gutter in four pitches and then headed over to Right wall to climb it in another two. The guys did well and we covered placing gear, building belays and some rope work. Once I'd finished it was a quick change and a drive up to Skye for a traverse attempt over the weekend.